At the request of another member Im posting my comeback story. Im trying to keep it more or less to the point and mods can move this where ever if needed.
My troubles began back in 2000 1 year out of highschool. I had credit cards that were maxed out and bills I couldnt pay with the job I held at the time. I spiraled out of control with my cards and bad checks untill late 2001 when I was told by family just how much trouble I was actually in financially and legally. I filled for chapter 7 2001.
I coasted after the chapter 7 for about a year it seems feeling good and then trouble started happening again. I began receiving credit card offers in the mail again. I had a problem and bankruptcy wasnt a fix. I started applying for all the "pre approved' card offers I was getting and it wasnt long before I was charged up the max and back in the same boat I was in pre chapter 7. Hopelessly in debt with no way to pay.
I lived in collections hell from then on untill the accounts got so old and with me moving and changing phone numbers I wasnt really being contacted anymore. It didnt matter my credit was so thrashed the mafia probably wouldnt have even loaned me a buck. I belive my scores were mid 400s at this point
After living in that misery for several years and having time to grow up and think about it after getting married and having a child , one day 2 years ago I got an offer in the mail of pay your $300 dollar debt and we will give you a credit card with that limit.I pulled my credit rerports and updated my contact info so other collection agencys would know where and how to reach me. I took the offer and prettty soon I started receiving settlement offers and pfd offers from collection agencys that were handling my old debts.
Pretty soon I was able to start getting some bads off my report and I saw my score start to slowly climb. I belive the other collection companies saw the trend and 1 by 1 they started sending me offers to clear up my past ill doings.
Fast foward to today and im sitting at a 690 TU08 have 15 good credit lines on my credit report and only 2 baddies left that will be gone in a few months, my wife and I have a modest but paid for house and 2 new cars. Its safe to say it may have took a while but it was a lesson hard learned on the importance of credit responsibilty
As stated in another post of mine, the cost of getting your dignity back is well worth the price in time and effort. I fully expect to be in the mid to high 700's this year
Thanks so much for sharing story! There are so many of these on this site its all good to hear even more. :-)We must be around the same age because I graduated in 99 and by 2000 i had a few credits while I was in college that i quickly maxed out. I was able to pay them every month until about 2008 when I lost my job while I was pregnant. I was unemployed for a year and had a baby so as you can imagine, unemployment didnt go very far. When I finally did get a stable job in 2010, everything was in collections. I tried to pay what I could for the next 2 years but could never pay the amount requested because by that time my income had been cut in half from my previous job, child care expenses, living expenses, etc didnt afford me to. I finally filed for bankruptcy in 2013 when I determined that it was my only option. I still have a long way to go but it definetely was one of the best decisions I ever made.
Starting Score: EQ 450 EX 498 TU 470